What neighborhood do you live in?
Although I don't live in the bird sanctuary in the Watson McCord neighborhood, I'm a stone's throw away and can often be found there walking my rescue dog (coyote?) Sula. A family of cooper's hawks lived there this spring and were nice neighbors to visit. Sula likes visiting the squirrels though they're not so crazy about her.

What has been your favorite vacation?
Although far away destinations can be wonderfully wild and exotic, getting to know your own watershed can be pretty cool too. I recently discovered the "I can't believe it's so close to Indy" Morgan-Monroe State Park with excellent hiking, the flying boulders in the sycamore trees at Yellowwood State Park, and the migrating sandhill cranes at Jasper Pulaski State Park (You can hear their crazy calls sometimes flying high over Indianapolis when they're flying north or south in the spring or fall.).

What's your favorite tree or flower?
My favorite tree (at least this week) is the sycamore tree. Its love of rivers, twisted branches, and Indiana roots are things the two of us share in common. The Joe Pye Weed is my favorite flower, especially because I love pie.

Favorite place in Indianapolis?

• That little pub in Cottage Home on Dorman St. I think it has had a few names, but it has the old restored Crown Royal sign out front. The red bridge on the Monon just north of Broad Ripple overlooking the White River.
  
• The trail around the lake at the IMA Art and Nature Park.
  
• Around the fire pit in my backyard with friends.